Employer branding

About: Employer branding is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1555 publications have been published within this topic receiving 54897 citations.

Is Corporate Social Responsibility Associated with Lower Wages

Abstract: Firms with a reputation as socially responsible may have an important cost advantage: If workers prefer their employer to be socially responsible, equilibrium wages may be lower in such firms. We explore this hypothesis, combining Norwegian register data with data on firm reputation collected by an employer branding firm. Adjusting for a large set of background variables, we find that the firm’s social responsibility reputation is significantly associated with lower wages.

Measuring brand image effects of flagship projects for place brands: The case of Hamburg

Abstract: Cities invest large sums of money in ‘flagship projects’, with the aim of not only developing the city as such, but also changing the perceptions of the city brand towards a desired image. The city of Hamburg, Germany, is currently investing €575 million in order to build a new symphony hall (Elbphilharmonie), €400 million to develop the ‘International Architectural Fair’ and it is also considering candidature again for the ‘Olympic Games’ in 2024/2028. As assessing the image effects of such projects is rather difficult, this article introduces an improved version of the Brand Concept Map approach, which was originally developed for product brands. An experimental design was used to first measure the Hamburg brand as such and then the changes in the brand perceptions after priming the participants (N=209) for one of the three different flagship projects. The findings reveal several important structural differences for the brand image dimensions of the city contingent upon the type of flagship project. Hence, this study shows (i) that different flagship projects have different image effects for the city brand and (ii) provides a novel method for measuring perceived place brand image effects of both ongoing and future flagship projects.

Chasing brand value: Fully leveraging brand equity to maximise brand value

Abstract: Both researchers and practitioners seek to understand how to leverage brand equity to create value. Adopting ‘the theoretical separation of brand equity and brand value’ framework originally proposed in the Journal of Brand Management by Raggio and Leone, this conceptual paper looks more closely at the brand value construct and the implications of the proposed theoretical separation. The authors argue that firms are continually attempting to ‘chase’ the appropriable value of their brands—defined as the theoretical maximum value that a brand could achieve if all brand equity were fully leveraged. Implications for developing measures of brand value are discussed.

Two sides of a coin: Connecting corporate brand heritage to consumers’ corporate image heritage

Abstract: This article connects consumers’ corporate image heritage to a company’s corporate brand heritage and sheds further light on the role of consumer understanding in corporate brand heritage. As a theoretical contribution, we propose consumers’ corporate image heritage as an additional dimension in Urde et al’s corporate heritage model. The qualitative data is two-folded: corporate brand heritage pertain to the company Piaggio and its Vespa brand’s communications, and consumers’ corporate image heritage to in-depth interviews and observation data from Vespa brand community members. The research reveals that community members’ corporate image heritage differs from the company’s view of its corporate heritage brand and important dimensions therein. Considering the key role of consumers’ corporate image heritage in their corporate image construction processes, corporate brand heritage management should hence involve systematic efforts to identify key dimensions of consumers’ corporate image heritage. As instrumental insights, we introduce a tool for analysing the intersection of an organisation’s corporate heritage and consumers’ image heritage to optimise the balance between these elements. The proposed analytical tool may be used as part of a company’s corporate heritage marketing and corporate heritage communication approach.

The brand orientation-performance relationship: An examination of moderation effects

Abstract: The study examines whether the recently validated brand orientation-performance relationship is moderated by firm-related internal factors and/or market-related external factors. Six moderators are investigated namely (1) firm age, (2) firm size, (3) branding know-how, (4) customer type, (5) industry type and (6) market life cycle. Confirmatory factor analysis is used to validate the constructs and test measurement invariance. Moderation effects are examined using multigroup structural equation modeling. The data consist of 797 valid responses from Finnish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Only external factors are found to moderate the brand orientation-performance relation, whereas internal factors seem to have no moderation effects. The results show that the effect of brand orientation on brand performance is moderated by customer type and market life cycle. It is reported that the effect is greater in firms serving consumers than in other businesses, and also in firms operating in declining/stable markets than in growing markets. This is among the first studies to empirically examine the performance effects of brand orientation in relation to moderation effects. Differing from most earlier papers, the present study examines brand orientation in the context of SMEs. The results have implications for both practitioners and researchers.